Zoey's House of Night
by shae Wild
Summary: This is a follow up to my story "Scared" which was writen a year ago. Zoey is now the High Priestess of her own HoN and her friends are her council. I do not own the Hon the wonderful series belongs to PC and Kristin Cast.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok everyone. I know it's been a year, but I have finally decided to write a sequel to Scared. This story takes place ten years in the future at a new House of Night that Zoey and her friends helped create. Again this story follows up Scared which was a sequel to my story An Endless Circle which was written in response to Hunted. So this storyline only follows the Cast's through Hunted. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the House of Night. The House of Night belongs to PC and Kristin Cast.**

I walked through the silent. The only sound was the clacking noise my boots made on the stone floor and the flickering of the flames in the oil lamps, casting a dim light around the hall. My stomach turned uncomfortably, my intuition warning me something wasn't right. The problem was my intuition had been telling me the same thing for the last month without actually pointing me in the direction of whatever was causing my unease. I had cast circles, and performed rituals, but received no answer other than the turning deep in my gut that I had learned to accept as a silent warning from Nyx.

I turned the corner, running my fingers against the smooth stone wall. Nothing stirred. Not that I was expecting that it would exactly. It was the middle of the day which meant that my students were sound asleep. I wished sleep had come to me that easy, but I had barely lain down before the familiar tickle on my skin touched the back of my neck and my stomach turned uncomfortable.

"Find anything?" Damien asked, startling me out of my thoughts. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you, Z." He said propping Jack up who was half asleep and leaning against Damien's shoulder.

"You didn't," I tried to lie, pushing a strand of hair from my face in a lame attempt at normality.

"Right," Erin said, walking into view, a look of mischief in her eyes.

"That's why you nearly jumped on that statue," Shaunee finished for here, pointing to the marble representation of the elements one of my students had made for the school.

I smiled, ignoring her comment. My friends hadn't changed much in the last ten years. Their appearance was exactly the same, well if you didn't count the change to their Marks. I really hadn't been sure what to expect when each of them made it through the change, but I should have guessed that their Marks would resemble their affinities and they did. Erin's Marks resembles raindrops entwined with gently rolling waves, showing waters many forms. Shaunee's Marks sparked and blazes switching from smooth lines of a flame to the explosive energy in an inferno. Damien's Marks were surprising. Though winds true form cannot be seen there was no denying that that was exactly what his Marks represented. They started out twisting and turning reminding me of leaves caught up on a fall breeze, but soon turned more jagged and angular like the wind of a winter blizzard.

The appearance of my friends wasn't the only thing that had stayed the same. Sometimes it felt as if we were all still just students at the House of Night instead of running one. Shaunee and Erin were both still boy crazed, obsessed with fashion and finishing each other's sentences. Damien and Jack were still together and Damien still annoyed the poopie out of the twins by correcting their grammar and Stevie Rae continually tried to keep the peace between us adding a "be nice ya'll" to the conversation every now and then. And Aphrodite…

"Figures, I'd be the only one working," Aphrodite said, her high heeled shoes announcing her presence long before her words did. She stopped just short of us, flipping her long blonde hair and turning to gaze up and Darius as she sontinued. "I swear if it wasn't for us this school wouldn't get anything done."

"Please," Erin started.

"Just please, with your I'm the human and I'm still more amazing than you speech," Shaunee finished for her. "If I have to hear that line one more time, I'm gonna find a way to make you a little less perfect."

"Our Heels shoved up her…"

"Enough," I said, cutting Erin off before this could go any further.

"Bet she wouldn't see that one coming," Shaunee whispered under her breath. "Even with the her prophetic visions."

"I know you don't want me to come over there and kick the crap out of you two," Aphrodite snarled.

"Bring it!" Shaunee said, snapping her fingers and causing every flame in the hall to crackle.

"Did I not say enough?" I asked Stark when he appeared at my side.

"You know my offer to shoot them all still stands," Stark said, eyeing his bow and arrows.

I smirked. While I had learned to handle my friends bickering, Stark was a little less patient which actually worked out well. We had a kind of good cop bad cop thing going. I would ask nicely and then stark would get medieval on them when they didn't listen to their High Priestess. Not that I couldn't keep them in line myself and had told him so more than once.

His response? _You have enough on your plate, Zoey, _without_ having to deal with their petty bullshit too. I'll take care of them, you just handle everything else._

Tonight however I was in no mood to just let Stark handle it. My stomach turned apprehensively again and I felt my impatience growing.

"I said that's enough," I said again, using the voice of the High Priestess to get their attention. "We have enough to worry about without you all waking the students with your bickering," I continued once I had their attention. Aphrodite and the twins were still glaring at each other, but at least they had stopped their screaming. "Now, did anyone notice anything out of the ordinary?"

Damien and Jack exchanged looks and I noticed the others in the group shuffling uncomfortably.

"What?" I asked, starting to get irritated.

Darius hesitated. "Priestess, we know that you believe that there is some sort of dark force emanating, but as every day for the last month, we've found nothing."

"What are you saying, Darius?" I asked, bringing my fingers up to massage my temples.

"Z, I think what Darius is trying to say is that maybe the feeling you're getting isn't what you think," Damien said tip-toeing around the issue. "Jack and I didn't find anything out of the ordinary."

"Just like every other time we've searched the grounds," Shaunee said, as if my asking them to patrol had become some sort of troublesome chore.

I shot her a look. "We're supposed to protect our fledglings no matter what."

"Yes, we are," Darius agreed.

"But there's nothing here to protect them from," Damien added, treading gently again.

I wished he wouldn't. It only made it that much harder for me to yell at them. Did they think I wasn't getting just as frustrated as them? I knew my intuition. I knew when I was receiving a warning. I knew when something wasn't right and something definitely wasn't right. Yet, I couldn't place it. Like the rest of my friends, I had found nothing out of place, nothing that even suggested that there was trouble. That only made me more paranoid.

"Fine, go back to your apartments," I said heading for the large oak doors at the end of the hall.

"Zoey," Damien tried again. "It's not that we don't believe you."

"Just that searching the grounds is a waste of time," I said, looking over my shoulder. "I got the message, Thanks." I pushed through the doors aware that most my friends were staring at my back and that Stark, Aphrodite and Darius had followed me.

"Zoey," Stark said, catching up to me as I moved from the student dorms to the stairs that led to the lower level recreation rooms. All of us had been a part of designing this particular House of Night and as former students we had decided that both the girls and guys dorms should be connected by a recreation room filled with games, television, tables, and couches. Not that there wasn't a common room in both the dormitories, but the recreation room had more to do. The other thing we had decided was that we only wanted three buildings. The first building was for the dormitories. The second was the actual school which contained the classes, library, and both and indoor and outdoor gymnasium. Third was Nyx's temple and the staff apartments which of course had separate entrances. The buildings formed a triangle with a courtyard in the middle.

"Zoey," Stark said again, putting a hand on my arm when I kept walking.

"Something is wrong, Stark. I know something is wrong," I said, pulling my arm away and turning to face them.

"No one is saying that they disagree with you," Stark said. "We just can't locate whatever it is that you're feeling."

I sighed, shaking my head in frustration before looking to Aphrodite. "And there was nothing out on the grounds."

"Just a couple of students trying to sneak back in. As if they really thought I was stupid enough not to notice. I was the queen of sneaking out and I did a hell of a lot more than go buy a bag of chocolates. Which let me just say if you're going to buy candy you can at least get the expensive European kind. A Hersey bar, who even eats Hersey's chocolate anymore?"

"Anyone who doesn't want to pay an arm and a leg for something that's only going to last two seconds," Stark suggested.

"Yes, we all know how you feel about quantity versus quality," Aphrodite said, emphasizing the word quality while scanning is clothing.

"Maybe it is nothing," I said, ignoring their conversation. "Maybe I am just over analyzing it."

"Your intuition has never been wrong before Priestess," Darius commented.

"But as you've all pointed out, there's nothing out there. No bad guys, no boogey monsters, just sleeping students." I turned to go waiting until Stark had taken cover before pushing open the door. Normally he would have been underground with the rest of the red fledglings, but had willingly offered to sleep in the student dormitories as an extra precaution. He probably wasn't really needed there. We had enough warriors guarding the grounds, but Stark trusted my gut.

My stomach clenched uncomfortably again and the tiny hairs on the back of my neck seemed to stand up on end as I pushed open the doors that led outside. I shivered against the frigid November air, observing once again the strange sensation it left me with. It had been a long time since I had felt the cold this intensely. Not since I was a human. Yet, with each breeze the cool air seemed to seep under my skin.

"Nyx," I whispered into the fall air. There was no answer, just another slow turning in my gut. Something was definitely wrong here.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wait, are you saying that I'm actually going to want to drink that stuff?" The question came from the front row.

I glanced up from the goblet I was holding into the emerald eyes of my newest third former student. Her long black hair bounced around her, falling into perfect ringlets that were constantly making Stevie Rae jealous.

"Yes, Athame, eventually you will," I said, answering her question. "But for Friday's ceremony you will be using wine. Now remember performing the full moon ritual is worth a quarter of your grade this semester which means I expect each of you to play a part. That means you all need to decide who is going to cast the circle, as well as who will stand for each element," I continued, pacing back and forth in front of my spells and rituals class.

If someone had asked me years ago what class I thought I'd end up teaching I would never have guessed that I would be explaining the proper use of spells to my students. I had always figured I would teach equestrian studies, like Lenobia. It just hadn't worked out that way. Actually it was more as if the class had chosen me, or I suppose I should say Nyx chose the class for me. I had helped pick out the course material for each of the classes to be held at this House of Night, but from the moment my hands had touched the rituals textbook I was sucked in. I couldn't stop thinking about the opportunities and benefits to teaching such a class. The biggest draw being that properly educating my students on Nyx and her ways could potentially keep another vampyre or fledgling from misusing her power. If I could keep there from being a repeat of the tragedies we had witnessed at the Tulsa House of Night than I would.

So far it had worked. There had yet to be another "incident" in the ten years since we had defeated Kalona and finally buried all the secrets of dark magic Neferet had discovered. The House of Night schools were thriving, all of them, and I couldn't have been more proud of our own school who had become known for its talent in the arts. We seemed to have a professor for every artistic ability. Erik of course taught drama, leading several of our students to countless awards, some of whom he was currently accompanying on a two week Broadway competition in New York.

Kramisha was still our poet laureate, and was also teaching English lit on top of a creative writing class. Marla had even joined our staff after making it through the change and was teaching music. Our choir was known across the country and other students were already being offered record deals. Not that we didn't have talented students and staff in other areas as well. Stark taught several of our gym classes, including archery and no one was better at teaching vamp soc than Damien, but that wasn't the reason we had countless requests for transfers to our school which consequently caused problems with the other House of Night schools.

I could not count the number of phone conversations I'd had with Neferet about keeping the dispersing of vampyre talent even across the country. The schools needed to be well rounded having talented students in every location. She also reminded me that transfers were for extraordinary circumstances and needed to be Okayed by both the new and old school of the student. That didn't make it any easier to turn students away or keep them from making the requests. Basically we had all agreed that the best course of action was to ask each student to submit an essay to both schools stating why they wanted to transfer. We were looking for one thing, that they were being led by Nyx. However, in most cases the students proved to be more self-interested in their requests to transfer and the words, "_It would be so cool to work with Erik Night!"_ Were often found in a good number of essays.

"So how are we going to make the decision?" A fledgling named Justin asked, shaking a short strand of carrot red hair from his eyes. "Vote?"

"That's one way," I nodded and then walked back to the diagram I had written on the dry erase board. "Do not forget, however, that there are other equally important jobs. Who will give the blessing to each of those in attendance? Someone will need to prepare the room, such as the banquet table accordingly and you all must decide how you will open the Ceremony. Will you use music? Dance? Poetry? All three or something different? Your best bet is to consult Nyx and feel her leading. Also, who will pass the wine?"

"Does drinking blood make the circle stronger?" Athame asked, crinkling her nose a little in spite of the curiosity her eyes held.

I held her gaze for a moment more before following the shimmer of gold hair that had gracefully popped her itself down in the back of my classroom. "You're kind of missing the point," I told Athame, trying not to roll my eyes at Aphrodite's amused smirk from the back row. I could already here her voice saying _It's always about the blood._ "It's not what's in the cup, but what it stands for. It's a symbol of our devotion to the Goddess and our bond to her. At every full moon the veil between our world and hers thins, letting us draw closer to her. Drinking the blood or wine is just demonstrating the connection we have to Nyx and each other as her children. In a way, it is how we recognize these things. Make sense?"

Athame nodded, but still looked troubled. "I just want us to get it right."

"You will," I said, making sure to look each one of them in the eyes. We still have three days and you all know the proper roles and procedures. All you have left to do now is make decisions about how you would like this ritual to go. Remember to include Nyx, and as always my office is open if any of you should have a question or need help. So until tomorrow morning, blessed be," I said, dismissing them just as the bell rang.

"She isn't obsessed much, is she?" Aphrodite asked, after the students had all filed out of the room. "About the blood I mean."

"It's a foreign concept to her Aphrodite. You forget, she's only been here a month," I said, erasing the information on the dry erase board and packing up my books.

Aphrodite snorted. "A month is more than enough time to get used to the idea that vampyres drink blood. It's not like she has to worry about it anytime soon. She's got another three years before she completes the change, if she even does."

"Aphrodite!" I said, glaring.  
"Oh please, don't give me that look. I'm just saying she has tougher challenges ahead of her than drinking blood," she said, standing up and walking over to my desk. "I think we all do."

I blinked at her words, taking the time to really look at her. Her eyes were puffy and pink, not blood shot like they used to be, but more as if she had just been rubbing them into irritation. "You had a vision?" I asked.

"If that's what you want to call it," Aphrodite shrugged.

"Aphrodite we've been over this, just because your visions have gone back to being warnings about human lives that are in danger does not make them any less important…"

"I know that, dork, I'm not completely shallow," Aphrodite interrupted.

I bit back my retort and waited for her to continue.

"Look, I've been having strange visions for a couple weeks now, and when I say visions I mean a bunch of random images fading in and out of focus like a bad satellite connection." She placed a hand on her hip, tapping her foot so that the sound of her shoes filled the room. "I mean seriously what does Nyx expect me to do with that?"

"There's not one image you recognize?"

"Hello, haven't you been listening?" She asked, glaring at me. "My visions are barely forming pictures let alone intelligible images."

I sat down behind my desk, rubbing my temples just slightly. Ten years of dealing with Aphrodite and her visions and you'd think I'd have this down pat. "What about Trina?" I asked, thinking that maybe the fledgling Aphrodite was mentoring would have had her own vision. Trina was the only fledgling in the school that seemed to have an affinity outside of the arts. None of our students appeared gifted toward the elements or even had a connection to animals. At least none that we had determined. Trina was the first and of course her affinity had been visions. The strangest thing was that she and Aphrodite often had the same visions only Trina's were less intense and usually had less detail.

"Nothing," Aphrodite said, shaking her head.

"She hasn't had any visions like yours?"

"No, she just hasn't had any visions. I've tried to teach her to call them forth and control them as Natasha helped me, but it's as if…" Aphrodite let her sentence trail off. "I don't know what to think."

"Can I ask what you can see?" I said, carefully.

"Just flashes. The whole school's in Nyx's temple and there's is just this feeling of wariness and confusion in the air. That's the only thing that is coming in clear. The feelings."

"What feelings?" I asked, hoping to probe some more information out of her.

"Loss, like everyone has just lost the person they love most in the world. Oh, and it's cold, so cold."

I met her eyes, remembering the chill on my skin the day before. It had felt unnatural, or maybe just unnatural for a vampyre. Human's felt the cold ten times worse than we did, but we weren't humans and I should have been hardly feeling the chill in the air at all. "What's going on here?" I whispered more to myself than Aphrodite.

"I'm not having a proper vision, that's what is going on here," Aphrodite said, making an annoyed face. "Can't we consult Nyx?"

"You mean you haven't tried to ask her?"

"Of course I have, don't be stupid."

"You are aware I am your High Priestess, right?"

"Whatever. I meant can't we cast a circle or something? I'm just saying that there have been times when I've asked her and nothing happens. You come along, light a candle and hello Nyx is standing in our dorm room."

"And since that time you have become her Prophetess. I'm pretty sure you mean just as much to her Aphrodite."

"Well apparently not enough to answer."

I frowned. The truth was I wasn't receiving any answers from Nyx lately either, just that horrible feeling that came with each sunrise, but then slowly ceased after dark had fallen once more. "Look, the full moon ritual is in three nights. I have to supervise my student's first ritual for the school and you have to watch over the Dark Daughters ritual, but after that we'll get the gang together and have our own. The veil that separates our world from Nyx is thinnest on that night. Maybe we'll be able to hear her more clearly."

At least, I was hoping we would.


	3. Chapter 3

My mind wandered as I walked through the grounds, nodding at my students as they fisted their hearts and bowed their heads in respect. Why wouldn't Aphrodite be having clear visions? It didn't make since. I mean sure, it wasn't like her visions were always understandable. I couldn't count the times we'd had to riddle them out, but at least then we'd had something to go on. There was always a landmark, or a recognizable person.

I supposed we did have a landmark. Nyx's temple.

I looked to my right, gazing at the stone building that was practically glowing in the moonlight. Nothing about the images Aphrodite saw made sense. Not even the feelings she'd described. Unless it was a funeral. The feelings of loss would be normal if someone had died. However, we never had a funeral inside the temple. Ceremonies were always conducted outside with a funeral pyre. Besides, those feelings would more than likely be centered around some individuals more than others. The way Aphrodite had made it sound was that these emotions were blanket feelings encompassing the whole group.

"So what happens here?" I asked aloud. Did it have something to do with the strange feeling I'd received the last few days. Because really? I was starting to get creeped out. Who's afraid of daylight? Sure vamps don't find it comfortable, but usually the things that go "Boo" don't hide in the sunshine. Nothing was making sense. "Nyx," I whispered the name like soft prayer.

"Decided to skip out on Dinner?" My best friends Okie twang asked. I turned to see Stevie Rae heading towards me, her face grim. "Aphrodite told us about the visions. I figured I'd find you here, searching for answers."

"Well someone has to," I said, feeling a little guilty and the bite in my voice.

Stevie Rae frowned. "Yeah, I heard about that too. The Twins and Damian filled me in. Z, they're getting kind of worried about you, and so am I."

I stared at her without saying anything. Had all my friends lost their minds? Why was I the only one noticing that something was majorly wrong here?

"I mean you are constantly out here searching for something that may not even exist," She hurried on, noticing my expression.

"And if there is something wrong?" I asked. "You said Aphrodite told you about the vision. You don't think one might have something to do with the other? Because I do," I said, lowering my voice when a group of students walked by.

"Oh for shit's sake," Aphrodite interjected, coming up behind us. I turned to see that she was followed by the rest of my friends who weren't looking to happy to have once again been pulled from whatever they'd been doing. "I don't care if they're connected or not as long as someone fixes this."

"You ever think maybe your visions aren't clear," Shaunee started.

"Because maybe this one isn't important?" Erin asked, clearly pissed that she was missing Dinner.

"My visions are always important. Don't hate on me just because you can't do anything, but produce water. News Flash, so can anyone else. It's called a hose. Which coincidently is what people call you two," Aphrodite retorted.

"Oh I know she did not just us a hoe," Shaunee said, looking ready to strike.

"Is there a reason you are all out here?" I interrupted before things could get worse. I didn't have time for this. I had three days to prepare for three full moon rituals, and hope that one of them led to answers.

"Besides the fact that there was no other way to shut Aphrodite up?" Erin asked.

"Will ya'll play nice," Stevie Rae said, placing a hand on her hip. "I know you don't want me to get involved."

"Or me," Stark said, joining us. "hey," he whispered, coming to stand next to me. "What's the problem?"

"Aphrodite is having vision trouble and apparently that's something we all need to miss a meal for," Shaunee said, still glaring at Aphrodite.

"What kind of visions problems?" Stark asked, ignoring the twins. To anyone else his face would appear stoic, but I knew him better. His expression didn't betray much, but I noticed the slight downturn of his lips.

"They aren't coming in clear," I said, eyeing him carefully. "Aphrodite said all she's seeing is flashes of images and some strong feelings."

"Was it just this one vision?" Stark asked, turning to Aphrodite.

She swished her blonde hair from her face. "I haven't had clear visions for a while. This was just the worst one. I thought maybe once my visions had something to do with vampyres again that they would clear up, but this one was worse."

Again I noticed a small change in Starks face. "What are you thinking?" I asked him.

"Probably the same thing as everyone else here," Shaunee started again. "That the sun is going to be up within minutes and here we are out here chasing after some invisible evil because Aphrodite had an unclear vision."

"Go inside then," I snapped, turning to face Shaunee and Erin. I was done trying to convince anyone that we needed to be vigilant, that something was coming if it wasn't already here. I understood the frustration of searching for something no one could see. I was also annoyed at our lack of progress, but I knew there was something out there and I was getting annoyed with their attitudes. "As you High Priestess I am telling you to leave."

I was very much aware of the eyes on me. It wasn't just the rest of my friends who were staring at me, but the students wondering the ground. I hadn't realized that I had used my High Priestess voice, but I was suddenly glad I had. My friends needed to realize that this was a real threat, one that I was taking seriously. If they couldn't understand that, then I didn't want their help. Their arguing and bickering was nothing but a distraction.

"Priestess," Darius intervened in a lowered voice, fisting over his heart. I hadn't notice him arrive with Stark, but that wasn't surprising. He had gone right to Aphrodite's side, who was staring at me with an intrigued look. He waited until we had lost the students attention and then continued. "Perhaps we should all go inside and discuss this more thoroughly."

"It would be a good compromise for everyone," Stevie Rae added, looking anxiously between me and the lightening eastern sky. "We do need to talk about what Aphrodite saw, and if we are going to try and to do a special full moon ritual to ask Nyx's guidance then we need to plan for that too."

I sighed. I knew she was right. There were things we needed to discuss and Stark and Stevie Rae couldn't do that out here. I nodded and looked back to the east as the first glimmers of sunlight peeked over the horizon. A breeze flew through the air, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. The temperature seemed to drop almost instantly and I shivered. It was as if someone had placed a cold cloak over my skin that I couldn't shake off. I felt disconnected and worse was the feelings that my senses were being dampened. The rolling in my gut returned and I gripped my stomach. This time, however, I wasn't the only one.

Stark was also shivering as he stared out at the rising sun. "What was that," he asked.

I pulled my eyes from the sky. "You felt it?" I asked, glancing first at Stark and then the rest of my friends. They too were staring at the rising sun with puzzled expressions.

"We felt it," Stevie Rae finally answered me. "I'm still feeling it," she said, brushing her skin as if she could wipe the cold from her body. She looked at me, "Has this happened…" she began.

"Every time the sun comes up," I finished her, not caring that we sounded like the twins finishing each other's sentences. As glad as I was that the others had noticed what I had been trying to tell them for the last few weeks, I was also nervous. If I was the only one feeling it, there was a chance that the threat wasn't that bad yet. The best comparison I could make is the feelings I got when the Raven Mockers were still in spirit form. I could sense them when the others couldn't. I thought maybe that was what we were dealing with now, something that was a threat, but not yet powerful enough to cause too much harm. If my friends were feeling it though, then something had happened.

"Zoey, we need to get inside," Stark reminded me, taking my hand in his.

Most of the students had already cleared the grounds and I gave the stragglers a lingering look that clearly told them that they were out past curfew. Within seconds they too were scurrying towards their dorm rooms.

I nodded at Stark, giving one last shiver as we led the group back to staff housing.


End file.
